Page 4 of Crossing Lines

Myles, Ace, and Tyler looked over at us from their video game, laughing.

I glared at Mason. The fucker needed to drop this. “Shut up.” I pointed at Mason.

Archer’s gaze cut to him. “Spill, Mason.”

“You didn’t get to meet the new coach.” Mason snuck a glance at me. “He’s fuckinghot.” He stepped toward Archer. “You should have seen Jonah’s tongue drop to the floor when the guy walked into our locker room.”

“When was this? Yesterday?” Archer tilted his head.

“Yeah, Coach introduced us to him. We’ve started calling him Coach Hot Stuff.” Tyler snorted, then died in his video game. “Fuck.”

Oh, Jesus. Dipping my head, I rubbed my temple, heat flaring in my cheeks. Archer didn’t need to hear all this shit.

Archer peered at me. “You do like him, don’t you?” He strutted to me, then wound an arm around my neck to scruff my head.

I wriggled out of his hold. “I don’t need you messing with me too.” With a huff, I strode into the kitchen and grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator. I had no idea at this point if Mason had grabbed one for me or not, and I wasn’t going to search for it. “Don’t you have some special night out with Leo to go to?”There, change the subject.

Knocking sounded on the door.

“Yeah, that must be him.” With a start, Archer snatched up his duffel and jogged to the door. Flinging the door open, he gave Leo a broad smile. “Babe.”

Leo flung his arms around Archer’s shoulders and kissed the side of his head. “Archer.” He breathed him in. “We’re going to have so much fun tonight.”

I sipped my beer, watching them. God, my best friend was the happiest I’d ever seen him. Would I ever have something like that? With a glance at Mason’s smirking face, I rounded the couch and dropped into my spot. “Hand me a controller.” It was time to enjoy our stay-at-home New Year’s Eve.

CHAPTER TWO

RYAN

Ishould call Mom and make sure she was getting on all right. I looked over my modern apartment, not far from downtown Tempe and the rink. It was in one of the new high-rises a lot of the students lived in, but it was good for now. Where did I leave my phone?

I walked around the main room, lifting a colorful pillow from the corner of my cream-colored leather sofa. Not there. I checked the coffee table, an oval thing I’d picked up in a secondhand shop and given a nice black sheen to because, why not. I hummed. Not there either. I stepped to my square dinette, also black to match my coffee table, and spied the damn thing. “There you are, you little bugger.”

Plucking it off the table, I dialed Mom and held the phone to my ear, then walked to the patio doors overlooking a bustling boulevard three stories down. “A” Mountain rose up in the distance, the infamous namesake letter almost glowing in the fading light. The phone rang a few times before she picked up.

“Ryan? What a pleasant surprise,” Mom said.

“Hi, Mom. It’s good to hear your voice.” As my lips quirked into a grin, I paced in front of the patio doors. The reflection of my sheer silver shirt shone through the glass. She sounded well,but then the cancer was supposedly gone for now. “Got any grand plans for your new year?”

“You know I don’t. I’ll probably be in bed by ten.” She sighed. “I don’t have the energy I used to with these post-cancer drugs.”

“Oh, the Tamoxifen?” I stopped and rubbed a knot in my neck. She’d let the doctors remove both her breasts when they’d found the lump on her left side, and then she’d followed up her surgery with chemo just to be safe. Mom was tough, and she wasn’t letting it take her down.

“Yes, but it’s better than the alternative,” she said. “What about you?” A hint of teasing entered her voice. “I’m sure you’ve got some plans for New Year’s Eve.”

With a sharp laugh, I said, “Yeah, going to check out a gay bar that’s close by.” I skimmed my finger down the cool glass and tucked my free hand into the front pocket of my jeans. “Gotta ring in the new year right.”

“Of course, eh?” With a soft chuckle, she said, “Maybe you can find someone to replace Laurent.”

My chest tightened. “Yeah, maybe.” Or a good fuck. That’s what I really needed. I wasn’t sure another relationship was in the cards for a long time.

“How did you leave things with him?” she asked.

Puffing out a breath, I raked my fingers through my bangs. “Good. We’re still friends, Mom. In fact, I’m going to call him after I get off the phone with you.” Because I’d promised and hadn’t gotten to it yet.

“You really loved that boy.” She exhaled into the phone. “It’s sad the two of you couldn’t make it work.”

“Yeah, well, he didn’t want to move to the States and…you know the rest.” With a wince, I gazed out the window at the darkness enveloping the sky. But really, Laurent and I had grown apart. He’d wanted different things, like inviting men into our bed. In the end, I hadn’t been enough for him. I rubbed the heel ofmy hand over my chest. Then he’d ended up HIV positive, but I’d have stayed with him anyway.

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